BROKEN Britain’s reliance on welfare is exposed tonight in a series about a street where nine out of 10 people live on benefits.

Father-of-three James Clarke said that 90 per cent of people living on his street don't work [NEWSTEAM]

The shocking documentary series charts the lives of residents of James Turner Street in Birmingham’s rundown Winson Green area – where some claim monthly handouts of up to £900.

Others living in one of the street’s 137 houses receive £400 to £500 a month.

One “star” of Channel 4’s Benefits Street boasted last night about their new-found fame, saying: “It was my idea to come up with the name.”

The series opens with father-of-three James Clarke, 44, known to his friends as “Fungi”.

He is seen bragging about pocketing £400 a month and spending most of it on drink.

The self-confessed alcoholic said: “Ten per cent of the street work and 90 per cent don’t. We all claim benefits and we’re not ashamed to do so.

“What else can we do? We are all entitled to buy food and have a roof over our heads.”

James Turner Street is situated in a rundown area of Birmingham called Winson Green [NEWSTEAM]

The series is the latest evidence of the way work-shy Britons have milked a system that continues to pay out like a limitless cash machine – as exposed last year by the Daily Express.

For years, the claims of those trapped on benefits went unchallenged, helping to create a £208billion annual welfare bill, or £1 of each £3 raised in taxes.

Millions of hard-working, tax-paying Britons were appalled by the level of this burden.

The figures prompted Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith to embark on the most radical reforms to the welfare state in 70 years, saying: “Britain’s something-for-nothing culture has ended.”

Unemployed Mark Thomas and Becky Howe, both 23, live on Benefits Street with their son Callum, four, and two-year-old daughter Casey.

Mark Thomas and Becky Howe claim £750 a month for them and their two small children [NEWSTEAM]

They pick up £750 a month in child tax credits, child benefits and jobseekers’ allowance. “We might be on benefits but everyone has got to start somewhere,” said Becky.

Polish mother-of-two Anna Korzen, 28, has lived on the street for four years. She rakes in £900-a-month in tax credits, child and housing benefits.

She said: “I’m looking for work. Most of the people on the street live on benefits. Some of them say they are sick and can’t work but most are scroungers.

“I’m not, I need the money to support my children.”

Anna Korzen said she is looking for work while claiming £900 a month in benefits [NEWSTEAM]

The show has divided the street, with some blasting Channel 4 for “betraying” them. However, a spokesperson for the programme insisted: “It is a sympathetic, humane and objective portrayal of how people are coping with continuing austerity and cuts in benefits.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “Our reforms are fixing the broken welfare system and restoring fairness to benefits. We’re ensuring people are better off in work than on benefits and have already seen the number of people in work reach record levels.

“If you can work, you must make every effort to find a job.”

Last year jobless mother-of-11 Heather Frost sparked outrage after appearing on the Channel 5 documentary On Benefits And Proud.